Unready for ageing

Although there is nothing new in the House of Lord’s “Ready for Ageing” report published yesterday, it is a useful summary of the issues which our society now faces in relation to changing demographics. And, as the report highlights, it is not just society’s problem, or the government’s, but one about which we must all take greater personal responsibility.

The report recommends, amongst much else, that the 2015 government establishes two Commissions – one to consider the financial aspects of our ageing population and the other to focus on health and social care. However, having pointed out elsewhere in the report that employer and societal attitudes – and lack of flexibility – continue to impact older people’s ability to work longer, I believe there should also be a third Commission to focus urgently on this aspect.

We need a change in attitudes overall to ensure that older people aren’t seen as dependent, needy and a liability but are recognised for what the majority are – active, contributing citizens. Let’s hope that this report leads to action – and isn’t just yesterday’s news.

The report can be downloaded here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldpublic/140/140.pdf 

It can also be browsed here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldpublic/140/14002.htm

The power of the ballot box

Sometimes it is very easy to think that we are the only nation in the world suffering from the various dilemmas now confronting us, in terms of, for example; economic woes, an ageing population, pension and care costs, youth unemployment, obesity, drinking problems and healthy living in general. And this list is by no means exhaustive.

But these issues are global, affecting just about every developed nation and many lesser developed nations as well. And the ways in which other countries are attempting to grapple with the situation are as many and varied as there are nations. We should, therefore, look elsewhere and see whether we like the way things are going and whether they provide a good blueprint for us here.

One particularly pernicious avenue of discussion here, both in the media and amongst politicians (notably of the “two brain” variety), is to set “the young” versus “the old”, as though one camp can only gain if the other camp loses. This is no way to solve such problems, especially if it leads to the actual polarisation of society.

The following extract is taken from a recent report from DutchNews.nl concerning the political situation in Holland:

“Fears that pensioners are being hard hit by the government’s austerity measures continue to boost support for the 50Plus party, according to a new opinion poll.

The TNS-Nipo poll says the fledgling party would win 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament if there were a general election tomorrow. That would make it the second biggest party in parliament, behind the VVD Liberals on 28. The party debuted in parliament at the September general election and has two seats.

The Labour party (PvdA), which currently partners the VVD in the coalition government, would be third with 23. The Labour leader caused a stir earlier this week when he said the over-50s are the richest group in the country.

The TNS-Nipo poll puts the Socialists in fourth place on 19 seats and the anti-immigration PVV fifth with 16.”

Despite an attempt a few years ago to set up an “older persons” party in the UK (which appears to have sunk without trace) we must hope that British democracy is better than this. Just look above at who came fifth in the poll, only a few seats behind!

The flat rate pension finally arrives.

At long last, and after many years of stalling, we are now close to having a flat rate, single tier state pension system. There has obviously been much coverage in the media and from various charity and support groups.

On the plus side they have highlighted how this will simplify an antiquated and largely unintelligible system so complicated and intrusive that many potential beneficiaries have chosen not to claim what they are entitled to. They have also drawn our attention to the transitional arrangements which are necessary and in which some people will appear to be winners and some losers (against expectations rather than against fact?). This is fine and necessary to make sure that in the changeover process all obvious inequities are dealt with and corrected.

As with all political initiatives such as this, first we get the good news regarding the move to a flat rate pension and then the not-so-good news that National Insurance contributions will have to increase to fund some of it. This does rather take the icing off the cake.

More worrying, though, are the views, already being expressed, that firstly the state pension is not enough (which we know or should do) and, linked to this, that not everyone should get this flat rate pension, that is a return to means testing. I had thought that for once, at long last, people had started to look at our demographic shift and its implications in a more statesmanlike fashion devoid of entrenched short term party politics – but it seems this is a very optimistic hope.

Such views totally miss the long term point of the changes. The flat rate state pension will never be enough on its own unless we tax people out of existence. However, by underpinning personal savings with this pension and then not confiscating it once individuals start to save for themselves we can give people the responsibility, the scope and the encouragement to plan themselves for their own financial well-being according to their own needs, choices and timeframes. And in what manner they choose, be it pensions, properties or direct investment.

Hands up who wants a Minister for Retirement

In the past there have been various calls for a Minister for Older People or similar to focus on issues such as the provision of care for the elderly. Now retirement income specialists Primetime Retirement are calling for a Minister for Retirement to focus on retirement and pre-retirement issues

In research undertaken with a representative sample of 389 over-55s they found that 64% would support the idea with another 11% unsure.

Primetime Retirement believes that this strong backing for the new Government role reflects a growing realisation that the whole concept of retirement is changing – requiring  new solutions from both Government and the private sector and generating a demand for innovation and leadership as the country grapples with the changing retirement issues.

“Of course appointing a Minister won’t solve all the issues but it would help focus the Government and other stakeholders on the need for more options in the retirement income debate,” their spokesman said

Would it? Really? And if such a person were to be appointed, who would it be, with what skills and serving whose interests?

Is the recession good news for longevity-related issues?

On Monday evening I attended A British Library and Strategic Society Centre joint debate (at the British Library) entitled “Keep Calm and Carry On? Policy, Psychology and the Effects of ‘Economic War’”

The interesting but rather eclectic session examined the psychological effects of economic uncertainty and how policymakers should respond.

However, although this was not its intention, what it highlighted quite starkly is how today’s global economic crisis and the pending “longevity tsunami” have now come together in a perfect storm.

It is easy to imagine that were it not for the recent job cuts, intergenerational competition for employment and reduced incomes plus other economic pressures leading many people to have to work longer, the real issues surrounding longevity could have remained buried or blurred for an even longer period than they already have done.

As a society we have known about many of the impending implications of the new longevity for a long time and failed to address them adequately. Perhaps the recession is a good thing in now bringing them sharply into focus?

Any views welcomed on this…

You may also be interested in a forthcoming debate at the British Library entitled “Growing old: Something to Fear or Celebrate?” For more details click below.

http://www.inmyprime.info/documents/BLflyer12jun12.pdf

http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/event131096.html

 

The European Year of Active Ageing

In case you hadn’t yet noticed:-

“2012 is the (European Commission’s) European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. A chance for all of us to reflect on how Europeans are living longer and staying healthier than ever before  – and to realise the opportunities that represents.

Active ageing can give the baby-boom generation and tomorrow’s older adults the opportunity to:

     stay in the workforce and share their experience

     keep playing an active role in society

     live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible.

It is also key to maintaining solidarity between generations in societies with rapidly increasing numbers of older people.”

This is how it is described on their website. For more see

http://europa.eu/ey2012/ey2012main.jsp?catId=971&langId=en

Last week, on 6 March, we attended the UK launch of this major initiative with many fine speakers and a TV link-up to the relevant EU Commissioner. Quite why the launch of “2012 as the year of” should take place in March I am not quite sure.

More from the website states:

“The challenge for politicians and stakeholders will be to improve opportunities for active ageing in general and for living independently, acting in areas as diverse as employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services or transport.

The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.”

Unfortunately, a few things stand out.

There were very few politicians, policymakers or employers, as major stakeholders, in attendance. Furthermore, a number of the speakers complained of “pilotitis” or “projectitis” a phenomenon whereby things are started while money and enthusiasm exist, then fall by the wayside until they are eventually re-invented sometime later. And, the continuing problem of lack of clarity about the needs of different groups of older people was once again apparent. Without revisiting old ground, 50 year-olds are different to 80 year-olds!

Obviously it is early days in the year, well early-ish, so maybe more will emerge.

If you wish to “get involved” or would like to suggest appropriate initiatives, do check out their website.

Let’s have a Minister for Older People who understands being older

Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care and housing is running a national campaign to petition the UK government to appoint a Minister for Older People.

Despite having a Minister for Women and another for Children and Families we have no government minister representing older people even though we make up 40% of voters.

Many governments around the world, including Ireland and Canada, have such a minister while both Wales and Northern Ireland have an Older People’s Commissioner.

At face value this seems a worthwhile campaign. As the number of older people increases a single minister could help ensure that the views and interests of the over 50s receive the attention they deserve.

However if such an appointment is made, it is vital that the post goes to someone with a genuine interest in and appreciation of the entire, diverse range of issues that relate to the 50 year or so time span that comprises “older”. Merely considering only the challenges of the elderly will not do. In addition, such things as pensions, caring responsibilities and continuing inherent age discrimination in the workplace are just a few of the key issues for those at the younger end of the “older” spectrum.

Allowing much-needed ongoing policies to be sabotaged by party politics will also not be helpful.

We also need someone who is older themselves (not difficult to find amongst government ministers) but who, for once, is prepared to talk about “us” and not “them”.

Visit http://www.gopetition.com/petition/44649.htmlto  to sign Anchor’s petition.

 

It’s not rocket science

Extracts from two pieces of information that have “hit the streets” just recently.

Firstly:

The UK’s ageing population and huge debt have propelled it into the top 10 of countries threatened by unsustainable public finances, new research has found. Britain is now one of 12 nations rated “extreme risk” in the Fiscal Risk Index compiled by global analysts Maplecroft.

The UK was ranked 10th in the list of 163 countries – up from 27th last year under a slightly different method of calculating positions – because of its high public spending on health and pensions, massive borrowing and shrinking working population.

The Fiscal Risk Index identifies nations that will come under increasing economic pressure in the future because of low birth rates, high life expectancy and state commitments to look after older people.

Italy topped the international league table, followed by Belgium, France, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Denmark and Austria. Japan came ninth, the only non-European country rated “extreme risk”, with Finland 11th and Greece 12th.

Professor Alyson Warhurst, chief executive of Maplecroft, said: “Governments in high risk countries may need to rely on business to help them absorb the costs.

“At the very least, governments will need the private sector to recruit and retain older workers and provide for more generous pension arrangements.”

(Press Association)

Secondly:

Talent management has become the number one preoccupation among chief executives at global organisations this year because skills shortages are becoming increasingly apparent as they gear up for renewed growth.

The report (by PriceWaterhouse Coopers) indicated that skills shortages were not limited to (such) emerging markets, however. “Voluntary turnover declined in mature economies during the recession, but historical trends demonstrate that it will return. As a result, talent is at the top of the agenda for global CEOs.”
   
But the scale of the skills shortage problem was also leading to some new thinking in order to tap its underused resources – although action remained limited. For instance, although fewer women than men were economically active in nearly every country in the world, only 11% of chief executives were planning to make ‘significant changes’ to policies aimed at attracting and keeping more female employees.
 
Few have altered policies (10%) in relation to older workers either, however, even though they constitute another underused talent pool and there is an awareness that the retirement of large numbers of baby-boomers could cause problems. Some 54% of bosses said they were looking at more effective ways of recruiting and keeping younger staff, however.
 
Because of these skills shortage issues, some 54% of respondents said that they intended to work with government and educational establishments in future in an attempt to improve the available talent pool.

(HRZone)

Conclusion:

Sounds like good material for a joint research project between the “University of Joined-Up Thinking” and the “University of the B******g Obvious”?

 

Wise and foolish virgins … and pensioners

A challenging article in today’s Independent questions whether “pensioners” (loathe that term, but for once it is being correctly used) should be spared when it comes to spending cuts.  Worth reading the piece and the comments which follow to see which side of the argument you favour.

It’s a difficult one. On the one hand it has always seemed a complete nonsense that comparatively young and wealthy individuals (who may still be working) are handed over the winter fuel allowance and a free bus pass, when clearly they are able to pay for these things themselves. On the other hand, means testing is demeaning and even worse, those wise virgins who have spent and saved wisely throughout their lives in order to adequately fund their latter years end up being penalised in comparison to their foolish peers who may have chosen to spend too much on beer and fags.

The fairest way has got to be to cut out the benefits and focus on increasing the amount of the state pension to a reasonable level – thereby enabling people to choose what they spend it on. The justification ought to be that pensions are linked to NI payments throughout working life, although it’s impossible not to still see the injustice in paying the same to those who have never worked.

The only conclusion is that “life just isn’t fair”. And that improved financial education for all from an early age has got to be a state priority.

That aside, a review of the current system would, at least, help avoid the growing but largely misplaced, sense of intergenerational injustice.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/david-prosser-the-charmed-lives-of-britains-pensioners-inan-age-of-austerity-2222766.html

The voice of older people says goodbye

At 77, Dame Joan Bakewell is retiring from her role as the first official Voice of Older People.

She’s done a good job, not least by demonstrating that at 77 she is more on the ball than most people several decades younger.

In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph explaining her decision she focuses on a couple of our own pet themes: the way that older politicians and policy makers refer to older people as “they” rather than “we”, and society’s lack of an adequate vocabulary to describe what it means to be older these days:

“…when writing or speaking, I quite legitimately referred to “us” rather than “them”. It was quite an important subliminal change. Too many documents, statements and articles had talked of the old as a separate enclave of society, a definable group to be lumped together as one order, rather as David Attenborough might refer to apes. As discussions and public debate have become more widespread, the shift in vocabulary has mattered, an indication that the old are speaking out more than ever for themselves and being heard.”

Dame Joan’s belief is that following Wales and Northern Ireland the country now needs a Commissioner for Older People, someone with a full-time professional job and accompanying back-up and funding. My heart sinks at the thought. A Commissioner for anything seems to represent endless bureaucracy, political correctness, and the expenditure of vast amounts of money to achieve very little.

Nevertheless, older people should have a voice particularly in light of the fact that according to a recent Age UK survey 78% of the over 60s feel that older people are ignored by society. 

Joan believes that the focus from now on will be different: “…as we see the Equalities Act take effect, we move into an era of implementation and action.” Nice to believe, but I’m not convinced. Plenty more needs to be said on behalf of older people before we’ll get that far.

My suggestion is to replace Joan with the admirable Joanna (Lumley) and build on what has already been achieved.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7599429/Im-off-but-my-role-has-come-of-age.html

Where’s the Platinum Power?

I’ve been musing recently on the current attitude of the political parties to the “grey vote”. My conclusion is that, at best, they’re lukewarm. They’ve made some noises about abolishing or shifting the default retirement age and are talking about how to fund care costs for the elderly. That’s about it.

You sense that they wouldn’t do either if the over 50s didn’t represent such a large and comparatively active group of voters. After all, age isn’t sexy and it turns off younger people. And older people can be so awkward…

I’m rather a fan of New Zealand’s Grey Power movement, a voluntary organization founded some 20 years ago by a group of angry older people protesting against the imposition of surcharge on New Zealand Superannuation. Since then they have campaigned effectively on a number of fronts to make the voice of older people heard.

Grey Power’s stated Aims and Objectives are: 

1. To advance, support and protect the welfare and well being of older people.
2. To affirm and protect that statutory right of every New Zealand resident, to a sufficient New Zealand Superannuation entitlement.
3. To strive for a provision of a quality Health Care to all New Zealand residents regardless of income and location.
4. To oppose all discriminatory and disadvantageous legislation affecting rights, security and dignity.
5. To be non-aligned with any political party, and to present a strong united lobby to all Parliament and statutory Bodies on matters affecting New Zealanders.
6. To promote and establish links with kindred organizations.
7. To promote recognition of the wide-ranging services provided by senior citizens of New Zealand.
8. To gain recognition as an appropriate voice for all older New Zealanders.

http://www.greypower.co.nz/

So why isn’t there something similar in the UK? Should there be?

One of the problems here is that older people don’t see themselves as part of a cohesive group, even though policy makers and the media are very happy to lump us all together as “over 50s” or “pensioners”.

On top of this, various sub-groups of older people seem to have difficulty recognising and empathising with the situation of others. For example, many wealthy older people with good pensions (including the many employers who fit this description) don’t recognise the need for other older people to work longer. Those who are long-term benefit claimants don’t recognise the need for an economic climate in which older people can more easily start and sustain businesses and help themselves in other ways.

Another reason is that those in power who are over 50 themselves talk about “them” instead of “us” as though we are a wretched and pitiful group of no-hopers that no one would want to be associated with if it could be avoided. The Lady Bountiful approach is alive and well.

It would be good if we had an equivalent of a Grey Power group here that could cut through the self-serving twaddle that currently passes for politics and actually get something positive done. But I wouldn’t want to see it called anything Grey. That’s a bland, uninspiring image; we should aim for Platinum at the very least.

They could get off to a good start by lobbying for people to differentiate between the needs and wants of the 50-70ish group and the needs of the truly elderly. The two are a million miles apart, but our current political representatives seem unable to grasp the fact.

 

Good news and bad judgement

Hooray! Harriet Harman has announced that moves to end “default” retirement at 65 are being brought forward, with older workers also getting the right to request flexible retirement/working options (not that this means they will automatically get them). No doubt there are many dark and devious economic and political forces at work behind this but no matter – the outcome is just as welcome.

Two interesting points stood out from Ms Harman’s speech: the first referring to the role of older women, many of whom are just getting into their prime in their working life – having taken time off work when their children were young. This is a point which is largely ignored in talking about later life working where male work patterns are generally used as the standard. Much more attention needs to be paid to gender differences in work attitudes and abilities in later life if erroneous assumptions are not to be made by employers about what older workers want and are able and prepared to do.

The second point was Ms Harman’s use of the term the “wellderly” to describe well, older people. By doing so she has shot herself in the foot and demonstrated she has completely missed the point – which is that older working people are NOT elderly. Let’s hope this dreadful term is relegated to the government’s “thought it was a good idea at the time but let’s pretend it never happened” pile, immediately.